Romeo and Juliet

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I have brought you a new blog post today. Happy reading!

[WARNING:  This contains MAJOR spoilers]

Romeo and Juliet is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written during the early years of his career. It’s a highly critically acclaimed play; I, too, think that it’s incredibly well written [though I’m not fond of any of the characters]. It’s a heart-rending tragedy revolving around a pair of star-crossed lovers. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are two naïve youngsters who meet at a celebration organised by Juliet’s father; they’re aware of the feud that runs between their families [I don’t know what the feud is about. I’m not sure their families know either. It’s been running for centuries. What I do know is that a Montague and a Capulet can’t even run into each other on the streets without a clash of steel. Weird, right? And senseless.] Romeo and Juliet realise this, and attempt to express their defiance through the strength and intensity of their love. Sadly, it doesn’t end well for them.  Read on!

The play is set in Verona, Italy [lots of Shakespeare’s plays are set in Italy] and begins with a street brawl between Montague and Capulet servants, who, like their masters, are sworn enemies. The Prince of Verona intervenes, declaring that should they disturb the peace of the normally quiet city again, they will be executed. A little later, a highly esteemed young man, Count Paris, asks Lord Capulet for permission to marry his daughter, Juliet, an extremely beautiful and intelligent girl. Lord Capulet asks him to wait for two more years and invites him to a ball [that’s the celebration I mentioned earlier. This is the beginning of the romance that destroys the protagonists]. Juliet vehemently spurns Paris, but her mother, Lady Capulet, and her nurse try to reason with her [humph. Why can’t they leave her alone? Juliet is more than intelligent enough to know what she wants in a man. Paris doesn’t have those qualities; that’s all there is to it! Why don’t they understand?!].  Meanwhile, Benvolio, a dear friend and advisor of Romeo Montague, tries to talk him out of his depression; the reason behind that superficial young man’s sadness is unrequited “love” for a very pretty girl, Rosaline, one of Juliet’s cousins. [You probably guessed this already, but Romeo isn’t in love with her. He’s just fascinated by her beauty. At one point, he calls her a “swan among crows.” Talk about flattery!]  Benvolio and Romeo’s cousin, Mercutio, persuade him to attend Lord Capulet’s ball in order to distract himself [he secretly hopes to meet Rosaline. Some people never learn, I guess.] However, he ends up meeting Juliet, who’s ten times more beautiful and twenty times more intelligent than Rosaline [yeah. I’m not exaggerating.] Well, what do you think happens next? Voila! Those two fall in love [they just had a conversation, Juliet impressed Romeo with her witty answers, the two decided they were meant for each other, and that’s that. “Woah”, I thought while reading it. “That’s fast.”]  Juliet’s overprotective cousin, Tybalt, recognises Romeo and draws his sword, but Lord Capulet does not want bloodshed during the ball, which makes Tybalt sheathe his sword immediately. After the ball comes the scene which is now famously known as the “balcony scene”; Romeo, unable to forget Juliet, sneaks into the Capulet orchard and overhears her monologue [“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”]; she asks him to change his name, as she is torn between her loyalty to her family and her love for him. It’s not much of a battle. The latter wins in, like, five seconds. An ecstatic Romeo reveals himself to her and they decide to marry secretly.  With the help of Friar Lawrence, a dear friend to both Capulets and Montagues [I don’t like him one bit. He may be well intentioned, but he just adds to the fire, causing it to rage and storm before it dies out and is replaced by cool rains.] He actually means to reconcile the two families through their children’s union, but it doesn’t work out the way he wants it to. They are married the next day.

Tybalt is unable to let go of what he perceives as a terrible insult to Capulet pride, and challenges Romeo to a duel. While never one to back off from a fight, Romeo sees Tybalt as his cousin [as he is Juliet’s cousin] and refuses to fight. Mercutio flies into a rage, thinking that Tybalt is audacious and Romeo too cautious [in Mercutio’s opinion, caution and cowardice are the same. I don’t agree at all. Well, whatever.] He accepts Tybalt’s challenge; Tybalt ends up killing him. Romeo is understandably shocked, enraged and horrified at the death of his dear, hot-headed cousin. Forgetting his “you are my cousin” stance, Romeo swiftly kills Tybalt. The Prince arrives, demanding to know who gave Romeo the right to create a ruckus and kill a Capulet; Benvolio argues that Romeo was only carrying out Justice. Fed up with the two families’ senseless and apparently never-ending feud, the Prince exiles Romeo from Verona, under penalty of death if he ever returns. Romeo secretly spends the night in Juliet’s chamber. The lovers are devastated at the imminent separation, but they don’t know that their world has just begun to fall apart.  Early the next morning, Romeo leaves Verona. Lord Capulet, misinterpreting his daughter’s melancholy silence, decides to marry her to Count Paris without further delay, threatening to disown her when she refuses. She desperately pleads with her mother to delay the marriage, but Lady Capulet rejects her. The girl turns to the only one likely to help her out of this difficult predicament: Friar Lawrence. He gives her a potion that will put her into a deathlike coma for two days. The Friar promises to send a message to Romeo asking him to escape with Juliet when she wakes up. Overcoming her initial fear and suspicion, she consumes the potion a night before the wedding. When discovered apparently dead, she is laid in the family crypt.

Bad news travels faster than good. The Friar’s messenger does not reach Romeo in time. Instead, he learns about Juliet’s “death” from his servant, Balthazar. Heartbroken, he buys an extremely strong poison from an apothecary and travels to Verona; he goes straight to the Capulet crypt, where he encounters Paris who is mourning Juliet. Believing Romeo to be an outcast and a vandal, Paris charges at with, but Romeo cuts him down [he’d normally have tried to reason with Paris, but he’s obviously not in the mood for that now. He does apologise to Paris’ dead body, though.] Still believing Juliet to be dead, he consumes the poison and falls on top of Paris’ body. Juliet awakens just then and is horrified to see the corpses of Romeo and Paris; she feels that life has no meaning without Romeo, so she stabs herself with his dagger. [I gotta admit, I have a bit of a soft spot for Juliet, so I was saddened by her death.] The Prince and the feuding families meet at the crypt to find all three dead. Friar Lawrence comes out with the entire story of the “star-crossed lovers”, who were cruelly separated in life, but united in death. The families agree to reconcile, shaken, jolted and saddened by their children’s death. The play concludes with the Prince’s declaration: “For never was there a story of more woe/ Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” Well, that’s true; however, I’m not a great fan of tragic romances. Romeo and Juliet is beautifully woven, just like fine silk threads, but I believe that true love is about living for each other, not dying for each other. That’s all for now. See you later…

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